1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of cell culture. More particularly, it concerns cardiomyocyte maintenance and modulation.
2. Description of Related Art
A central challenge for research in regenerative medicine is to develop cell compositions that can help reconstitute cardiac function. It is estimated that nearly one in five men and women have some form of cardiovascular disease (National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey lil, 1988-94, Center of Disease Control and the American Heart Association). Widespread conditions include coronary heart disease (5% of the population), congenital cardiovascular defects (0.5%), and congestive heart failure (3%). The pharmaceutical arts have produced small molecule drugs and biological compounds that can help limit the damage that occurs as a result of heart disease, but there is nothing commercially available to help regenerate the damaged tissue.
With the objective of developing a cell population capable of cardiac regeneration, research has been conducted on several different fronts, including the use of functional cardiomyocytes. A potential source of regenerative cells for treating cardiac disease is cardiomyocytes derived in vitro from pluripotent stem cells of various kinds, especially induced pluripotent stem cells. However, a number of obstacles have stood in the way of developing a paradigm for maintaining homogeneity of cardiomyocyte lineage cells in culture.
Commercialization of these technologies for use in in vitro drug screening assays and/or regenerative medicine will benefit from further improvement in the expansion and differentiation protocols to improve cell homogeneity and yield.